U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,349 issued to Hursey, et. al. describes reduction of blood flow by application of a dehydrated zeolite material to the site of blood flow. In this method, a particular calcium rich zeolite formulation of the class Linde Type 5A has been utilized as an external application to a traumatically wounded individual to induce hemostasis through dehydration of the wounded area and induction of a blood clot formation (Breck, D W et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 78, 23 (1950) 5963.). A major disadvantage to this product has been the excessive heat generated locally at the injured site as a consequence of the large enthalpy of hydration associated with the material currently marketed under the trade name, QuikClot™ and distributed by Z-medica corporation of Newington, Conn. USA. There remains a need for modifications and improvements that optimize the enthalpy of hydration upon rehydration of the dehydrated zeolite.
Bioactive glasses (BGs) with SiO2—CaO—P2O5-MO (M=Na, Mg, etc.) compositions were invented by Hench in 1971 (L. L. Hench et al., J. Biomed. Mater. Res. 1971, 2:117) and have been widely studied and used in clinical applications for bone and dental repair due to their chemical bonding with both soft and hard tissue through an apatite-like layer. The apatite-like layer promotes the adhesion of bioactive glass to tissues and avoids the formation of an intervening fibrous layer. This has been shown to decreases the failure possibilities of prostheses and influence the deposition rate of secondary bone and tissue growth. In vivo implantation studies demonstrate that these compositions produce no local or systemic toxicity, are biocompatible, and do not result in an inflammatory response. The SiO2—CaO—P2O5-MO BG system has been synthesized by the melting-quenching method (Hench et al., 1971, supra) or by the sol-gel method (P. Sepulveda et al., J. Biomed. Mater. Rev. 2002, 59:340; P. Saravanapavan and L. L. Hench, J. Biomed. Mater. Res. 2001, 54:608). Compared with the traditional melting-quenching method, sol-gel techniques were developed in the past decade to produce the same material at a lower working temperature. Sol-gel techniques also allow a greater degree of functionalization to be incorporated into the bioactive glass material to increase the rate of apatite-like layer growth as well as afford a wider range of bioactivity.